Month: November 2005

This article is funny….This reminds me of the conservative republicans that call the Western Media — “The Liberal Media”–here we have the communist, government media that is making sweeping accusations about how our media has a bias–which I think is really funny. They can’t talk in truth about their government, so it makes sense to just point and laugh at ours….

Bush in China
George Koonull Updated: 2005-11-22 10:37
Coming off a new low in domestic approval ratings and battered by a decidedly hostile reception in Latin America, a mellower and gentler President George W. Bush brought a more conciliatory message to Asia.
Western media stressed the part of Bush’s speech in Japan where he suggested that China should look upon Taiwan as its model for democracy and freedom. The reference to Taiwan occupied only two short paragraphs out of 34 of his prepared text. China chose to ignore the reference when Bush arrived in Beijing.
Bush began his speech in Beijing by praising China for its economic progress and for its role in the six-party talks with North Korea. He gave a subtle signal about the need for more religious freedom in China by attending a Protestant church service near the Tiananmen.
Alas, both the president and the media entourage showed dismaying flaws in their understanding of China.
When Thomas Murphy, then chairman of General Motors, visited Beijing in 1978, he too attended mass at a Catholic church near where Bush attended the protestant service. Giving subtle signals about religious freedom was far from Murphy’s mind, however. His only intent was to be a good Irish Catholic.
What has changed during this interval is the degree to which Buddhist temples have flourished. Today, temples are full of worshippers and grounds covered by incense smoke and burnt currency printed for the dead.
China has even constructed a bronze-clad statue of Guanyin, a Buddha native to China, off Hainan Island, built by design to be taller than the Statue of Liberty. Buddhism has always been the dominant religion in China. Why has Western media not acknowledged the liberalization of worship in the country?
Surely no one is suggesting that only the practice of Christian religions count toward religious freedom.
About the time of Bush’s trip to Asia, the Washington-based Pew Research Center released a remarkable survey as part of their global attitudes project. The survey revealed that 76 percent of the Chinese people living in urban areas expect their lives to improve over the next five years. For the United States, it was 48 percent, closer to Russia’s 45 percent.
When asked if they were “satisfied with the way things are going at home,” 72 percent in China responded “satisfied,” and only 19 percent “not satisfied.” In the United States, the survey indicated only 39 percent satisfied and 57 percent not satisfied.
Even more remarkable than Pew’s result is the near total absence of coverage about this survey in Western media. Only the International Herald Tribune, distributed outside of America, ran the story. None of the wire services and none of the major American dailies even mentioned this poll.
Why such a lack of interest? The global attitudes project was co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Senator John Danforth. Pew’s many other surveys were always cited by the mainstream U.S media. Could it be because people allegedly deprived of freedom have no right to be optimistic?
President Bush, it seems, should have saved his lecture for his good buddy, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin at the APEC meeting in South Korea. At least with Putin, Bush would have spoken from a relative position of strength.
Bush also misfired by holding Taiwan as a model to which China should aspire to. People in Asia have not forgotten that the last election of this so-called model of democracy saw a miraculous intervention of a supposed assassination attempt on the eve of the 2004 election. The sympathy from the superficial wound on Chen Shui Bian’s belly was far more effective than any hanging chads or Swift Boat veterans that influenced the outcome in America.
Now that Beijing has offered to buy agriculture products from Taiwan tariff-free and dangled the prospect of sending millions of affluent mainland tourists to Taiwan, the economic pressure on Chen to revise his no-negotiation stance is mounting. The opposition leaders in Taiwan have already reached rapprochement with Beijing, further isolating Chen.
It will be interesting to see how long Chen can abide by rules in the books without new subterfuge. His predecessor, Lee Teng Hui, was known to make revision of the Taiwan’s constitution an annual exercise.
More than 1 million Taiwanese have already voted with their feet by moving to live in the mainland. Even 100,000-plus Americans are now living in China. Such voluntary migration of people flies in the face of the image of a repressive China portrayed by the western media.
During his visit to Asia, President Bush has shifted to a perceptibly softer diplomatic approach from his previous hard rhetoric. It is a small but hopefully significant step toward collaboration instead of confrontation. Western media needs to take off their biased filters and see China for what it has become — a progressive nation on the move

100 tons of chemicals flowed into river(China Daily/chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2005-11-25 05:47
About 100 tons of dangerous chemicals equivalent to 10 tanker-truck loads was spewed into the Songhua River, which supplies water to Harbin, the nation’s environment watchdog disclosed yesterday.
Zhang Lijun, vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), told a press conference in Beijing that Jilin Petrochemical Corporation, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), “should be responsible” for the leak of benzene and its derivatives following an explosion at a chemical plant.
“We will be very clear about who’s responsible. It is the chemical plant of the CNPC,” Zhang said.
Asked whether the company might face criminal charges or fines, he said that had not been decided.
A stretch of potentially lethal polluted river water headed towards one of China’s biggest cities on Thursday after an explosion at a petrochemical plant, November 24 2005. [newsphoto]
The plant, on the upper reaches of the river in Jilin Province, earlier denied any connection between the contaminated water and the explosion on November 13, which left a trail of dead fish.
But Jilin Vice-Governor Jiao Zhengzhong, also Party secretary of Jilin city, apologized to the 3.8 million residents of Harbin on Wednesday during a visit there. He brought 71 tons of mineral water with him. “We will work with the Heilongjiang provincial government to quickly investigate the incident,” Jiao said.
CNPC also apologized to Heilongjiang people Thursday. Its deputy general manager Zeng Yukang expressed his sincere sympathy and deep apologies to the residents of Heilongjiang Province.
Zeng, who is also director of Daqing Petroleum Administration Bureau, came to Harbin on Wednesday, heading a drilling crew which is to dig 100 deep groundwater wells for universities and college as well as water and heat suppliers in the city.
Zeng also deemed it CNPC’s duty to help treat the pollution, according to the city government of Harbin.
Water supply has been suspended in Harbin since Tuesday midnight and the city government is keeping a close watch on an 80-kilometre swathe of polluted water in the Songhua which flowed into the city early yesterday morning.
We know where the toxic water is and how its density changes,” said Li Weixiang, director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Environment Protection Bureau.
The slick, flowing at about 2 kilometres an hour, is expected to pass the city by Saturday morning.
The Harbin Water Purification Plant said it could restart water supply on Sunday, Xinhua reported.
Heilongjiang Governor Zhang Zuoji earlier vowed to “drink the first mouthful of water once the supply is resumed” to ease people’s worry about water quality.
On the second day of the water-supply suspension, Harbin residents found it much easier to buy bottled water, which was readily available in shops and supermarkets.
“Now it is totally unnecessary to worry about buying water,” said Teng Song, a postgraduate student of Harbin Institute of Technology.
The city has drilled 55 wells in three days, and more will be dug, the government said on its website.
But many people still chose to leave the city.
For the fourth day in a row, sales of air and rail tickets remained brisk as many were sending the elderly and the young to other places.
A saleswoman in Harbin North Ticket Centre, one of the largest in the city, told China Daily there was strong demand with tickets to Guangzhou and Shanghai sold out for yesterday.
Liu Yunlong, a businessman, said he would send his two sons to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China’s Liaoning Province. “I can’t afford to let anything happen to my children,” he said.
On the international front, China has informed Russia of the situation in the Songhua River which flows into the neighbouring country Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a press briefing in Beijing yesterday.
The Songhua is a tributary of the Heilong River (called Amur River in Russia).
China will try its utmost to minimize the impact on neighboring Russia, including intensifying monitoring and water quality control measures.
“China is very concerned about the possible hazards to Russia and has informed its neighbor several times of the pollution,” Liu said, “Both have pledged to cooperate closely to handle the pollution.”
At another press conference, SEPA Vice-minister Zhang Lijun said the Chinese side will keep informing the Russian side of what it has learnt from our monitoring.
“The two sides are making specific arrangements for opening a hotline for the matter”.
He said the polluted water in the Songhua River, which reached Heilongjiang provincial capital Harbin on Thursday morning, is expected to flow into the Heilongjiang River (called the Amur River in Russia) on the Sino-Russian border in around 14 days judging from the current flow speed.

These pictures will tell a very funny story tommorow…. I am planning on spending the entire day drinking green tea and writing some of the wonderful stories that have made this trip to China such a wonderful experience.
Many thanks to those of you gave me a call this thanksgiving and the notes of appreciation for the site– it is always so nice that people are reading this material.
I will be uploading much information tommorow afternoon…. Mean while, enjoy these pictures and the story below….

Happy Thanksgiving!!!FROM CHINA DAILY TODAY (See if you can spot the propoganda)

Commentary: Cover-up can’t hide murky water truth(China Daily)Updated: 2005-11-25 06:00
With confirmation by the State Environmental Protection Administration that the Songhua River has been contaminated by benzene and nitrobenzene, action by Harbin municipal government has proven to be timely and necessary.
As the contaminated swathe of water approached the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, local residents finally heard an apology from neighbouring Jilin Province, where an explosion in a chemical plant belonging to Jilin Petrochemical Corporation on November 13 caused the problem.
A delegation headed by Jiao Zhengzhong, vice-governor of Jilin Province and Party secretary of the city of Jilin where the chemical plant is located, came to Harbin on Wednesday to apologize to local residents. The delegation has brought with it 71 tons of mineral water to atone for the inconvenience the pollution has brought to Harbin residents.
Zeng Yukang, director of Daqing Petroleum Administration, also in the delegation, apologized on behalf of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to Harbin’s residents.
Both Jilin Petrochemical Corporation and Daqing Petroleum Administration are under the auspice of CNPC.
However, the Jilin corporation denied the pollution of river water three days ago. It said that the explosion produced only carbon dioxide and water, which would definitely cause no pollution to the water of the Songhua River, according to a report by China Business News on Tuesday.
It also promised it had a sewage treatment plant and it did not discharge any untreated water into the river, the report said.
In the same report, an anonymous source from the Jilin provincial government revealed that the river was indeed contaminated by a toxic spill from the explosion.
People cannot help but doubt that the Jilin corporation was trying to cover up the truth. A local report says the benzene and nitrobenzene from the explosion were washed down into the river by the water from the fire engines.
This has further deepened people’s suspicion that the corporation would have known about the pollution immediately after the explosion.
A spokesman from Heilongjiang Environmental Protection Bureau said at a news conference on Wednesday that on November 20, the level of benzene and nitrobenzene was checked at the border between the two provinces, and found to be much higher than the State standard.
Even then, the authorities of the corporation bluntly denied that the river water had been contaminated.
A spokesman from the State Environmental Protection Administration said yesterday at a news conference that Jilin Province and Jilin Petrochemical Corporation had adopted timely measures to stop the toxic spill from being discharged into the river immediately after the explosion.
This shows that the corporation knew very clearly about the contamination and its possible result but still wanted to keep the secret to itself.
Leaders from the Jilin provincial government and Daqing Petroleum Administration apologized for the contamination of river water and for the inconvenience and losses the pollution has inflicted on Harbin’s residents. But they never apologized for the hiding of truth.
We do not know what is behind the cover-up. It might be because they were afraid that they would have to pay money for the losses the pollution has incurred in Harbin, and it might be because they were afraid of losing face.
But the fact is they have brought shame on themselves by covering up the truth.
We sincerely hope that no cover-up of a similar nature occurs again in the future.

To my shock and amazement, today was actually a great thanksgiving. Its over at about the same that every other thanksgiving is over, about 900pm, I am tired from all the food and activity that the day had brought forth.
As per usual with Chinese festivities, I wasn’t made aware that anything special was going to be happening until just after 10 this morning, when one of the cute chinese girls calls me and asks me if I can attend a special dinner and performance. I had known that the finals of the University singing/lipsynching to the worst English songs known to man was scheduled, but I had no idea that it would hold what we were in store for.
I will upload some pics tommorow, but the food was horrid at first. I ate most of a frog before I finally asked what it was, and the fish, which I took a picture of, was made in my honor, so I was forced to eat it. Not good-as you will see.
Then, I was told about 430 this afternoon, that I was going to be performing in the middle of the show, so again, I performed a SONG in front of 2,500 people.
The song, thank god, was my choice.
I chose, The Scientist, by Coldplay.
I had three bouquets of flowers thrown to me for my excellant job in performance.
Pics tommorow….

In honor of today’s Thanksgiving, I thought it might be a good idea to go back in time one year ago today and remember what will always live in my memory as the strangest, yet most personal thanksgiving ever.
Although this journal entry, which I have printed below is just a small example of how I felt that day, looking back on the memory it was an exciting time. One thing about the chinese that always interested me more than anything else was how they managed to get as excited as young children over the western holidays with which they had so little familiarity.
Today is bound to be equally as special as it is Lili’s first thanksgiving as well and I think she, like the Chinese, is equally excited to see whats in store, to feel that holiday cheer that comes with all of these winter like holidays.
I had a lot more to say in the previous entry that was swallowed up by cyberspace when the computer decided to go into hybernation and not save the information…. but this brief moment is somehow more intimate than the last entry.

Wherever you are in the world, I hope you take a moment to be thankful for something.
And now, a moment from a year ago today….

Thanksgiving 2005…..

To my shock and amazement, today was actually a great thanksgiving. Its over at about the same that every other thanksgiving is over, about 900pm, I am tired from all the food and activity that the day had brought forth.
As per usual with Chinese festivities, I wasn’t made aware that anything special was going to be happening until just after 10 this morning, when one of the cute chinese girls calls me and asks me if I can attend a special dinner and performance. I had known that the finals of the University singing/lipsynching to the worst English songs known to man was scheduled, but I had no idea that it would hold what we were in store for.
I will upload some pics tommorow, but the food was horrid at first. I ate most of a frog before I finally asked what it was, and the fish, which I took a picture of, was made in my honor, so I was forced to eat it. Not good-as you will see.
Then, I was told about 430 this afternoon, that I was going to be performing in the middle of the show, so again, I performed a SONG in front of 2,500 people.
The song, thank god, was my choice.
I chose, The Scientist, by Coldplay.
I had three bouquets of flowers thrown to me for my excellant job in performance.
Pics tommorow….